Laundry machine



April 8, 1969 F, B, HENRY ET AL LAUNDRY MACHINE Sheet of 2 Filed Oct. 24, 1965 INVENTORS Falsa/x B F. B. HENRY ET AL LAUNDRY MAGHINE April 8, 1969 Sheet Filed Oct. 24, 1965 OR S Flea me ENR Y .Do/VAL@ Rop BY @vw E A ORNEYS United States 3,436,850 LAUNDRY MACHBIE Frank B. Henry, Rock Island, and Donald L. Rupp, Green Rock, Ill., assignors to Ametek, Inc., New York, NY.,

a corporation of Delaware Filed Oct. 24, 1965, Ser. No. 504,900 Int. Cl. D06f 65/10 U.S. Cl. 38-2 4 Claims ABSTRACT F THE DISCLOSURE This invention relates to laundry machines, and particularly to an improved signaling apparatus for classifying laundry articles during finishing operations.

One of the problems in the operation of a laundry is providing the customer with linens that are free from stains, rips or holes of an objectionable size and nature. These defects are not readily discernible during the laundry processing until they reach one of the final finishing operations Where they are spread out flat by an operator and the defects can be observed. It then becomes a matter of the observer classifying the rejected piece in some manner as it moves through the final finishing operation So that at some distant point the piece may be identified for rewashing, repairing, or disposal in some other manner so it does not get back to the customer in an unsatisfactory condition.

The principal object of this invention is t0 provide a mechanism to carry a signal imposed by the observer through the roner and folder at a timed relationship to the speed of the laundry item in order that the receiver may be instructed as to the condition of the item and its disposition at the time it is received by her.

Another object of the invention is to provide a means of transfer and detection of the signal from the roner, which may operate at a variable speed, to the folder which operates at yet another speed and may also be variable or fixed.

Still another object of `the invention is to apply the principles thereof to a modular type of design in order that the number of classifications of laundry items may be readily changed or added and also to make this design suitable for use with a plurality of lanes in the ironer or ironer-folder combination.

1n one aspect of the invention, a laundry roner may include a hot chest having a -sinusoidal contour over which a belt may pass for conveying articles therethrough to iron them, the roner being fed by an endless belt conveyor on which the articles are placed in stretchedout condition by an operator. At this point the operator can detect damaged, stained, or soiled articles and manually push one of three different switches, for example to indicate imperfect articles at the exit end of the roner.

In another aspect of the invention, a plurality of memory disks or drums may be provided, one for each of the above classified defects. These drums may include a plurality of impedance means that are connected in parallel relative to each other. There may be one drum or disk for each classication. Also, it could include magnetic tape or other memory storage means.

" arent In another aspect of the invention, there may be provided fiatwork folding mechanism at the exit end of the roner for receiving the ironed flatwork. It may comprise a conveyor arrangement and pinch rolls for making various folds in the ironed iiatwork as it passes therethrough.

In still another aspect of the invention, a detecting means may be provided at the entrance end of the folding mechanism to detect the passage of an article into the folding machine. The detecting means may be connected to a holding circuit between the memory drums for the ironer and another set of memory drums for the folding machine.

In another aspect of the invention, there may be prothe folding machine storage drums or disks may lead t0 classification signals which, when illuminated, caution the operator at the exit end of the folding machine to classify the folded work.

In a still further aspect of the invention, the rate of rotation of each of the storage drums or disks is directly related to the speed of travel of the articles through the roner and the folding machine respectively. In operation, an operator at the entrance end of the roner stretches a laundered piece of Work out fiat and feeds it into the roner, at which time the operator may observe the presence of unrepairable rips, stains or soil, in which case she manually presses the proper classification button, ie., reject if the article is damaged beyond repair; repair if it is possible to repair the article; and rewas if the article is stained or soiled. Of course, other classifications may be employed by simply adding storage drums or disks to the various memory devices. The closing of any one of the previously mentioned switches applies a signal voltage to an impedance, which in the embodiment disclosed is shown as a capacitor. When that particular capacitor on the drum has made one revolution, or substantially one revolution, representing the time required for the article to pass through the roner, it is discharged through a relay, thereby energizing the same, and if the roner is used alone, that relay energizes an audible or a visual signal so that the 0perator at the exit end of the roner will know in what classification each article is to be put and thereby remove defective articles.

In another aspect of the invention, should the roner be used in combination with the folding machine, energization of another relay sets up a circuit for transferring the stored signal -onto a folder memory drum identical with the roner memory drum. As the article is fed from the roner into the folding machine, the trailing end is used to transfer the signal from the roner memory drum to the Ifolder memory drum. Thus, the trailing edge can be considered to `be a point moving at a constant speed through the folder and will arrive at the exit end' of the folder a fixed time after its entrance into the folder as compared to any other portion ofthe article which arrives at a variable time depending upon the length of the article. Consequently, when the folder memory drum has rotated sufiiciently to permit the article to pass through the folding machine and exit therefrom in folded condition, the charged capacitor activates a relay and the relay activates an audible or visual signal so that the operator at the exit end of the folding machine may properly classify the article as rejectable for one of the aforesaid reasons and remove it from the processing line.

The above, other objects and novel features of the invention will become apparent from the following speccation and accompanying drawings which are merely exemplary.

In the drawings: FIG. l is a schematic view of the combination of an ironer and folding machine to which the principles of the invention have been applied;

FIG. 2 is an end view of one of the memory drum or disk storage means;

FIG. 3 is a side elevational view of apparatus of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a detail of the memory drum apparatus showing the impedance means attached to the photo-etched contact surface of the drum; and

PIG. 5 is a wiring diagram of the apparatus `shown in FIGS. 1 to 4.

Referring to the drawings, and particularly to FIG. l, the principles of the invention are shown as applied to an ironer including a hot chest having a sinusoidal upper surface 11 that cooperates with a belt 12 entrained around ironing rollers 13 and 14. An endless belt conveyor 15 may be provided at the entrance end of the ironer and the belt 12 extends around an idler pulley 16 in position to -feed the work exiting from the ironer into a folding machine 17. Any type of ironing machine can be used. The folding machine 17 may include an endless belt arrangement 18 that passes around rolls 19, 20 and 21. As an example, the folder Imay be one of the type shown in U.S. Patent No. 2,924,451. Another endless belt conveyor 22 has its top flight in contact With the bottom liight of endless belt conveyor 18 and it passes around rolls 23, 24, 25, 26 and 27. A driven roll 28 cooperates with the belt 22 as it passes around roll 24 and with an air jet 29, or other type folder, to form a fold in the ironed article. There is another endless belt conveyor 30 that passes around rolls 31 and 32. The belt around roll 31 cooperates with the belt 22 around roll 26 and with another air jet 33 or other folding means for forming a second fold in the ironed article, after which the folded article passes up the conveyor to a receiving table 34.

The roller 13 is connected to a rotatable memory drum 35 by a driving means 36. The memory drum and the drive therefor are designed so that the drum makes substantially one revolution during the period of time it 'takes for an article to move from the entrance of the ironer to the exit thereof. In this way, variations in speed of the ironer cause corresponding variations in speed of the memory drum 3S. Likewise, a memory drum 37 is connected to the roll 28 of the folding; machine, and it is designed to make substantially one revolution during the period of time it takes for an article to pass from the entrance to the folding machine until it reaches and has passed the exit thereof.

Referring to FIGS. 2 and 3, the memory drum 3S may comprise a frame 3S having end plates 39 and 40 that support a shaft 41 for rotation about a horizontal axis. Shaft `41 may support a plurality of drums 42, 43, 44 (only three being shown), each comprising spaced disks 45 and 46 between which are located in peripheral arrangement about said disk capacitors 47 at equal intervals about the periphery of said disks.

Referring to FIG. 4, each capacitor includes a conductor end 48 in contact with a wiping plate 49 fixe-d to the outer surface of the disk 45. The drum 42 may be the reject memory drum. The drum 43 may be the repair memory drum; and the drum 44 may be the rewash memory drum. All of the drums are identical.

Referring to FIG. 2, there may extend between the plates 39 and 40 a rod 50` on which there may be mounted a contact 51 for each of the drums 42, 43 and 44 in position to engage the wiping plates 49 for each capacitor 47 of the respective drums.

Another rod 52 may be mounted between the plates 39 and 40 and extending through aligned, elongated, arcuate slots 53 in each plate (FIG. 2). Rod 52 is connected to arms 53 and S4 that are journaled on the shaft 41. An adjustable lock nut means 55 at each end of rod 52 permits the arcuate adjustment of the rod 52 relative to the memory drum the stationary rod 50. Rod 52 may support separate wiping contactors 56, 57 and 58', each adapted also to contact the wiping plates 49 for the capacitors 47 of the respective drums 42, 43, 44. Also, there may be contactors 56A, 57A and 58A on stationary shaft 50 to pick up and complete the minus side of the memory drum capacitors 47.

Referring to FIG. 5, when an article is stretched out and placed on the conveyor 15, the operator observes whether it is to be accepted, rejected, repaired or rewashed. If the article is to be accepted, nothing is done; it passes through the ironing machine and the folding machine and is received by the operator at the exit end of the folding machine to be placed in a pile of useable laundry. However, if the operator detects damage to the article requiring rejection thereof, the reject switch 59 is closed by the operator or attendant. In FIG. 5, only one drum 42 is disclosed for the sake of simplicity, and a corresponding single drum is shown for the memory device 37. The closing of the reject switch 59 applies a Voltage to the wiper yplate 49 in contact with the contact 51 to thereby charge the capacitor 47 associated therewith through Contact 56A. When the drum has rotated sufficiently to permit the rejected article to pass through the ironer, the capacitor 47 `will enage the wiping contactor 56, thereby energizing the CRI relay. I-f there is no folding machine to which the article is to -be transferred from the ironer, an audible or visual signal will be rendered effective by the energization of the CRI relay.

However, as shown in the present embodiment where a folding machine receives the ironed article, energization of the CRl relay closes the CRI-1 contacts, thereby energizing the CRZ relay which closes holding contacts CR2-1. Energization of CRZ relay also closes the CR2-2 contacts in the circuit for the CR4 relay. However, the CR4 relay does not become energized until the trailing edge of the ironed article passes a signal detector 60 which in the embodiment disclosed is shown as a photoelectric cell. When the trailing end or edge passes the photo-electric cell 60, a switch 61 (FIG. 5) closes, energizing the CR4 relay that opens the CR4 holding contacts Kfor relay CR-2 and closes the CR-4 holding contacts. Switch 61 otherwise is open at any time that detector 60 detects presence of an article. The location of the photo-electric cell 60 for detection switch 61 (FIG. 5) is very important. It must be located as close to the outfeed point of the ironer 10 as possible, yet far enough away from this point so that if the operators should overlap their work by a maximum of twelve inches, for example, the .separation detection switch 61 will still detect a separation between pieces. The speed of the folder conveyor belts 118 is such as to maintain a minimum speed thereof at all times such as thirty percent faster than that of ironer Ibelt 12. This speed difference permits a separation zone between successive pieces. Another requirement in the placement of the photo cell 60 for the separation detection switch 61 is that it must detect the presence of all work being classified before the work is free of the ironer. It also is possible to use detector switch 61 to operate directly the transfer function.

Since the ironer memory drum is actually keeping track of a point as it moves through the ironer, the operators signal sent into this drum must occur after the work has started into the ironer and before the trailing edge of the piece disappears under the first ironer roll. The piece being classified must have intersected and opened the normally closed separation detection switch 61 be-fore the signal is fed out of the ironer drum 35 to the holding circuit. This signal must occur after the leading edge of the piece has operated the separation detection switch 61 and before the trailing edge of the piece releases this same switch.

As soon as the piece releases the separation detection switch 61, relay CR4 will energize and operate its contacts, thus inserting a signal on the folder memory drum 37. It is to be noted that this signal may be inserted on one or more capacitors of this drum depending upon the time delay built into the relay CR4 circuit. This delay circuit for CR4 is determined by application requirements and is usually set to charge at least two capacitors.

Energization of the CR4 relay also closes the CR4-3 contacts that are associated with the memory drum of the unit 37 that corresponds to the memory drum 42 of the unit 35. Closing the CR4-3 contacts transfers the signal by applying a voltage ot the capacitor 47 of the corresponding drum of the unit 37 through wiper 51. Since the drum of unit 37 rotates in proportion to the time required for the ironed article to pass through the folding machine, as it passes therefrom, its wiping plate 49 will engage the contact 56, thereby energizing the signal 62 which may be audible or visual. The engagement of contact 56 may also be used to close a relay which may be used to energize an audible or visual signal but additionally may be employed to energize a machine element, such as a solenoid or other device, to direct the ironed material into a path other than through the folder.

lt is understood that other means of variable time delay storage systems could be used such as a magnetic tape or a drum containing bi-stable reed switches (not shown) in place of the capacitor storage drum.

Although the various features of the improved indicating system have been shown and described in detail to fully disclose one embodiment of the invention, it will be evident that changes may be made in such details, and certain features may be used without others without departing from the Iprinciples of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. In an ironing machine, the combination including a hot chest and means for conveying atwork over said hot chest, a memory device, means driving said memory device in synchronism with said conveying means, said memory device including a plurality of rotating drums, one for each of a plurality of defect classications in articles fed to said hot chest, a plurality of energy-storing means circumferentially arranged on each of said drums, contact means on said drums for each of said energystoring means, a stationary wiping contact on said machine for engaging each of said drum contact means as the drum rotates, an adjustably mounted wiping contact mounted on said machine and positioned to engage each of said drum contact means at a predetermined position during the rotation of said drum, switching means for selectively applying a voltage to one of said energy-storing means through one of said wiping contacts as said drums rotate to classify a defective article, relay switching means operated by said energy-storing means upon contact of its drum contact means with the other of said wiping contacts, and signalling means operated by said relay switching means to indicate a defect in the particular article delivered from said hot chest.

2. Laundering apparatus comprising in combination, an ironing machine, a folding machine, memory devices for each machine comprising a plurality of signal storing means, one for each of a plurality of defect classifications in a laundered article, said signal storing means comprising a plurality of rotating drums having a plurality of energy-storing means circumferentially arranged thereon, means for moving said energy-storing means in proportion to the speed at which articles pass through said machine, switching means for impressing a signal on one of said memory devices for classifying a defective article, means for transferring said signal from said one memory device to the other in response to location of the article, and means responsive to the signal stored in said other memory device for indicating a defect in the folded article when the article is delivered from said folding machine.

3. A laundering apparatus as defined in claim 2 in which conveyor means of different speeds provides for spacing of articles between said ironing machine and folding machine, and a means actuated by the trailing edge of laundered articles initiates operation of said other memory device.

4. In combination, an ironing machine comprising a hot chest above which is mounted an endless belt that contacts said hot chest for feeding articles through said ironing machine; a folding machine having its entrance at the exit of said ironing machine and including endless belt arrangements and air jet means for folding articles as they pass through said folding machine; separate similar memory devices, means for drivingly connecting said memory devices to the endless belt arrangements of said ironing and folding machines, each of said memory devices comprising a plurality of rotating drums, one for each of a desired defect classification in articles fed to said ironing machine; a plurality of capacitors arranged about the periphery of each of said drums and each including wiping contact means on the outer end surface of their corresponding drums; stationary contact means mounted on said memory devices in position to contact said wiping contacts as said drums rotate; adjustable contacts mounted on said memory devices adapted to contact said wiping contacts as said drums rotate; means for selectively applying a voltage to any of said capacitors of the ironing machine drums through said stationary contact for classifying defective articles during the ironing and folding operations; means responsive to that capacitor contacting said adjustable contact for energizing a relay; means responsive to the energizing of said relay for applying a rvoltage to a selected of the capacitors of the corresponding drum of said folder memory device through its stationary contact; and means responsive to said capacitor in said folder memory device engaging the adjustable contact thereof for energizing an alarm means thereby to indicate a defect in the folded article when the article is delivered from said folding machine.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 8/1960 Camp 83-60 3/1965 Hajos 38-2 U.S. Cl. X.R.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION Patent No. 3 ,436 ,850 April 8 19 Frank B. Henry et al It is certified that error appears in the above identified patent and that said Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shovm below:

Column 2 line 14, "In another aspect of the invention,

there may be pro" should read In a further aspect of the invention, the output from Column 4, line 53, after "percent" insert a comma. Column 5 line l() "ot" should read to Signed and sealed this 3rd day of March 1970.

(SEAL) Attest:

WILLIAM E. SCIIUYLER,

Commissioner of Pate] Edward M. Fletcher, Jr.

Attesting Officer 

